Reflections | The Modern Story

11
Jul

This week packs a nostalgic punch for us: it’s been almost one month since we stepped off our respective planes in Hyderabad and met one another (pronounced Hy-DRA-bad for anyone curious). One month of dodging auto-rickshaws, developing a chai tea habit, and waiting patiently, pleadingly for packages from friends and family (don’t worry friends and family – we’ve found the room, it’s the mail that’s a bit slow). It’s been three weeks since we began teaching at Railway Girls’ High School in Lallaguda and two weeks since we began teaching at our America India Foundation (AIF) partner schools: Sultan Bazar High School, Government Girls High School in Bansilalpet, and Audiah Memorial High School. And as of yesterday Kelly officially began teaching at our 5^th and final school—Mahatma Gandhi Memorial School—with great success.

With this day, the last wheel of The Modern Story flying machine has been set spinning earnestly in motion. It is a vehicle piloted by 114 students, their 10 teachers, and ourselves, built from camera batteries and tripod legs, story-powered and running on creative juice, buoyed by blind faith in each other and in our newfound family. We seem to have lifted off beyond all return, departed from any familiar ground to gaze down at our small June selves with amusement. A great many things have changed since then.

For one, the three of us have grown from being friendly strangers to a strange band of friends, known to the Abids neighborhood and often together. When separated, shopkeepers and waiters will inquire, “Where is Kelly? Where is Dana? Where is your other friend?” Both Kelly and Dana have spent time in India before and share a profound love for the country, its many languages, religions, and peculiar challenges. Kelly is always striving to get out and see more, following her curiosity (and encouraging mine) through the winding streets of Sultan Bazaar and into the pockets of Hyderabadi life: a chai tea counter, a yoga studio, and a Hare Krishna service. On a given day, when we find ourselves stuffed into the 8A bus, dripping with sweat, careening through the streets, and contorting our limbs to hold on to whatever pole, rail, or fixed object we can find for fear of falling, Dana will often break into an enormous smile and say: “I love India.” And she means it. In many ways, experiencing the country through their eyes has forced me to reconsider my own impressions, to knock down the pin of stereotype and romanticism all the more quickly, and live at the level of people, places, and things. Because that is, after all, what matters most: people, places, and things. Nouns. Any abstraction beyond that is a bit more complicated and requires one to venture into the realm of the storyteller. How do you tell a story about India that captures a whole noun? A swath of feeling? An entire month? I haven’t the faintest idea, but am going to try.

Two weeks ago, I was teaching the 8B standard class at Railway Girls’ High School in Secunderabad. I love working with these students – they are bright, kind-hearted, and keen to become good photographers and digital storytellers.

After showing the students some storyboards and comic strips, I took them outside in small groups to record voiceovers describing their favorite object. We stood beneath a tree – dubbed the “quiet tree” to deter background noise – and amid hushed laughter, the girls took turns speaking into the camera and recording one another’s voices. Everything was going smoothly, all too smoothly. I should have known. For somewhere in between Fuqrah explaining how her father bought her a diary for New Year’s and Sim Rani describing the fur of her teddy bear, a breeze passed by and gingerly lifted the edge of my long tunic, called a kurta. I felt the coolness of the breeze, as breezes are wont to cool the skin, but with a strange and startling proximity. As if the breeze was extra strong, or my pants – these billowy, pajama-like pants called salwar – were extra thin. Or missing entirely.

Somehow, in the haste of the morning, I had torn an apple-sized hole in the back of my salwar and was bearing my backside to the entirety of the sun-soaked courtyard. Panicked, I tugged my kurta back in place and looked wildly in every direction, like the periscope of some paranoid submarine. Had I flashed the students? A teacher? The Head Mistress Madam Janaki? If she didn’t tolerate short sleeves, indecent exposure would hardly earn her approval. I spent the rest of the day attempting to be streamlined, arms pinned to my sides like a water slide rider, walking slowly and trying to not make any sudden motions. I hobbled home with wounded pride and stitched the hole that weekend.

As a teacher abroad, it is too our benefit to approach new environments with utmost respect, to be mindful of what is said and done, and to consider the meaning of our actions in a new context. To comply with unspoken rules. To adjust accordingly. To conform. All month, I’ve been watching other teachers at our schools and trying to mimic their mannerisms, their tone, and their diplomacy. I’ve begun to wobble my head back and forth to mean yes, instead of nodding up and down, and adopted a clipped Indian accent to make it easier for my students to understand my English. This is made especially ironic by the fact that so many of the girls detest the sound of their voice, of their accent, and want desperately to sound like me.

The pressure to conform and blend in, especially in the conservative sections of Hyderabad where we live and teach, urges not only our compliance, but the compliance of my students as well. Many said their greatest fear in The Modern Story class was answering a question incorrectly. Many are hesitant to speak in class, often answering my questions in a synchronized chorus. The students of 8B wear the same neatly pressed blue uniform, hair spun in two smooth braids, and frequently copy their homework from textbooks, newspapers, and each other’s journals despite my insistence they write in “their own words.” But what value does a student’s “own words” have when having the “right answer” is more socially applauded? My students and I seem to be caught in a space of mutual imitation, suspended somewhere in the middle of this two-way mirror and trying so very studiously, even desperately, to be like everyone but ourselves.

In spite of our honest efforts, however, it has proven nearly impossible for my students and I to be anyone but ourselves. Scraps of personhood will continue to make an appearance: bursts of laughter, innocently insensitive remarks, and a wayward patch of skin beneath an otherwise perfectly respectable pair of pants. Though the desire to fit in persists, there is something to be said for standing out. And instead of suppressing these flares of identity and hanging their heads in shame, I want more than anything to show these girls the tremendous beauty and joy of taking pride in themselves. Of bringing their inner life to bear on paper and preferring to do so in their own words. And when hearing their voice played back, I want them to smile at the sound of it, to appreciate its musicality, its earnest curiosity, its liveliness, everything I hear when I listen to them speak and the ownership that comes when imitation isn’t nearly as satisfying as authenticity.

9
Jul

KellyA_12

Reflections, Student Writing, TMS Fellow Updates

Shooting Outward, Focusing Inward

This past week at Railway School was spent familiarizing the students with the digital camera, while simultaneously beckoning them to begin to unravel their own individuality and passion. In preparation for the photo story project, we have been working through the power of photographs in telling stories – both of socially relevant and emotion content. This balance was reflected in our lesson plans this week that began with a Letter to the World assignment and ended with an exercise in the movement from head-to-heart with poetry. I was impressed with the topics the girls brought up in their letters, and would like to let their voices speak for themselves this week with excerpts from their classwork.

The Letter to the World responses can be categorized into 4 major categories: Education, Environment, Unity in Diversity, and Equality/Human Rights. I will go through these one at a time.

Environmental Awareness:

I am surprised with the number of students expressing an interest in the problem of water pollution. Perhaps it should not be surprising, considering the quality of the lake water we drive past every day on the way to work, and the caution we exercise ourselves in what water to drink when while living here. Here are a few words from the students.

Soniya:

Long ago humans worship earth as a goddess but nowadays humans have big axes to cut trees and cars and buses to pollute air with smoke and fumes. Insecticides and pesticides are also polluting the water, and some people are wasting water – it is not a good thing to waste water. They don’t know that still some people don’t have water to drink and we are wasting food and water. Some poor people don’t have food to eat so we have to take care of the Earth, for people. For example, we use bicycles or walk for short distances, we have to reduce plastic and recycle. Forests are being destroyed. Forests and mountains help to make rain and keep life on Earth going, we need them for enough rain.

I am very sad about what is being done to Earth. That is why I am writing to the world a letter, so we will all grow up and become good citizens. I want to have to take care of the Earth, plant more trees in our house, school, and in towns and villages. Every human has the right to take care of Earth, plants, trees, and animals.

Think now, after all you have just one mother earth. I trust we will take care of the earth well.

Your lovingly,
Soniya

Sushma:

Dear World,
I want to tell a few words to change the world. We should reduce the dust because with the dust we face so many diseases. This is our world, we should keep our surroundings clean and neat. In the world different religions are there, like Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. Different religions are there but we are living on the same places, Earth and Sky is the same. I want to tell one request to the world. The world should be clean and green.
Yours Lovingly,
Sushma
8th Class

Sandhya:
“I want to save the world from pollution. Please don’t do pollution in the world.”

Tulasi:
“Our water is polluted by factories, by insecticides and pesticides, we have to save water. If water is not there on the Earth, we are all not alive.”

Education for All:

Dear World,

I am Prathyusha. My message to the world is “give study to everyone.” We see on the road that there are so many beggars. If we want to stop seeing beggars it means that we have to give study to all. When they are studying then they can get a position as a worker. When I come to a high position, I will build a hostel for all.

Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Prathyusha

I am not convinced this is the original thought of a student, but I was also impressed with the following that appeared in the journal of Sweta Padmini:

E = Enlightenment
D = Duty
U = Unity
C = Character
A = Action
T = Testing
I = Ideas
O = Oneliness
N = Nation

Equality/Human Rights:

One of the girls was having trouble deciding what topic she should write her letter about. I asked her if there is anything in her community that makes her angry, and she responded that she gets angry when people make fun of beggars. She went on to write a heartwarming letter about the need to express love towards the people who beg on the streets.

Yuva Rani:

Dear world,
A country with large population and innumerable religious places has many beggars. In India all types of beggars are found in large numbers. These beggars are small children, women, handicapped, and diseased people. Sometimes children of young ages are stolen or kidnapped by members of gangs and get them trained for begging. The money the children or people begging get will go to those people. Most of the beggars are found near temples, mosques, and churches, railway stations, bus stops, hospitals, etc. In has not received people’s support. I is true that most people do not like this public nuisance but are somewhere eager to help the poor beggars. So, I am telling that we have to show love and affection with the beggars.

Yours lovingly,
Yuva Rani

Unity: Religious and Human

‘Unity in Diversity’ is one of the aspects of Indian culture that it seems many take pride in – for good reason. This sentiment resonated through the writing of some students.

Srav’s

Dear World,
I am Srav’s of 8th class from Railway Girls High School. I am telling about religions like Hindus, Christians, Muslims. In Hindu there are so many festivals. Holi is the important festival where we play with color – all of my friends come to my house and we play with color. On December 25th, Christians celebrate Christmas. If we have problems we pray to Jesus and they will be solved. The Muslims wear long white tops and caps also. In our country we don’t fight – we are friendly and we are all equal.

Kirthi:

To the world,
I am D. Kirthi studying in 8th A. I am telling about unity in diversity. All countries have to be in unity. If we fight we get sad, if we all are in unity we get happy.

Keep smile and be unity.

I look forward to helping the girls express their opinions on all of these issues, and am excited to see the first signs of coming up with a meaningful project during our time together this six months. Finally, I will close with a few of the student’s poems…

Prathyusha:
Peaceful Heart
Running Person
Angel
Thoughtful Mind
Hugging Girl
Yumuna
Unlike to go to another school
Something Different
House is my Heaven
A Different Mind Thing

Sushma
Sincerity
Unity
Strength
Honesty
Marvelous
Attraction

Krevathi on her Mother
Mother
Peaceful, Shanti
Cooking, Washing, Cleaning
Amma, Mummy
Godess

Thank you.

Until next time,
Kelly

28
Jun

KellyA_12

Reflections, The Modern Story Fellowship, Uncategorized

Entering the World of the Bazar…

In the midst of the hectic bazar crowds, beyond the yellow door that opens in upon the crisp white temple, past the stacks of paperbacks and street side printing press, and next to the man with the sugar cane stand, one can find the door to the Sultaan Bazar Girls School. At this school, I feel that my interaction with the students necessitates a breaking down of walls of ‘otherness’ I wear as a foreigner to be seen as person before romanticized celebrity. It is in these cross-cultural encounters that I recognize the breadth of learning and sharing that can take place through the Modern Story curriculum, but that also humble me to the challenges presented by engaging with a system and pedagogy unfamiliar to my Western upbringing. When I walk through the gate, all eyes of the courtyard turn to me, and I feel a bit insecure in my skin when I notice the teacher of a class being held outdoors search for the source of the spontaneous distraction. Although this attention can become burdensome in general, with these students there is something so innocent in their intrigue – so genuine in their questions to know how I got here and where I am from – and this sincerity makes me so excited to work with them towards integrating into the global dialogues available through technology and their own voices.

On the first day, the students got to class half an hour early. They have their lunch period before The Modern Story class, and it seemed as if they must have eaten as quickly as possible in order to come join me in the computer lab. I made sure they had, in fact, eaten properly before agreeing to start class fifteen minutes early. They were all sitting in a tight knit circle that had formed around my chair at the computer- wide eyed and leaving me with little choice but than to acknowledge they were ready to begin. We started class with an introduction to the curriculum, and once more with going through the rules that we expect in the Modern Story. When they were hesitant to respond to my questions, I was not sure if their nods of understanding were coming from a true grasp of my English. The teaching assistant working with me that day assured me that they did understand, but that speaking is a problem for them. I recognize that the most difficult rule to follow may be the last one we listed on the board, “I will not be afraid to speak.”

By the second day they seemed to have loosened up, and though still quiet, gave fully devoted attention to the lesson. My aim with this class was to introduce the girls to the idea of finding stories in the world around us. I am trying to use the ‘medium as my message’ as much as possible in class, so I showed them a small video I made on the stories that can be seen in the stars, and the lessons that nature teaches us all around. From this we moved on to the idea of a ‘picture says 1,000 words’ and did a free-write exercise responding to an image on the computer. The rigidity I saw in these girls when asked to be creative, the hesitation and fear they seemed to have of getting the ‘wrong answer,’ reminded me of the behavior the day before when many of them used straight edges to make sure the lines on their name cards were perfect. My desire to shake and loosen them up again beckons me to the boundaries of teacher and friend.

With that said, I am excited to get to know more about these girls throughout this six months and hope that I can facilitate their ability to speak up for themselves and believe in their power to effect change in their own lives, families, and communities.

Jan, 19

tms@themodernstory.com

Reflections, TMS Fellow Updates

Everybody wants to learn

The time Ilana and I have as TMS teaching fellows is coming to a close. Today I spent an hour in a Xerox shop printing TMS certificates of completion for our students. After reading the English text for a while, the adult man operating the shop computer highlighted the section that says “exceptionally trained in photography, filmmaking, video editing and computer multimedia software.” He told me, “This boy [pointing to the one behind the Xerox machine] knows all this.” I looked at the boy, assuming (naively) that he was about 18, since he was working a regular job. I’ve met other boys who did “digital printing” coursework in upper secondary school (11th and 12th grade), and I’d talked to this boy, Ramesh, a few times before when he was the only one in the shop. Like many youth I’ve met in such shops, he’s more adept with the technology than his elder superiors, who take charge of interactions with me when they’re around or not watching cricket on the shop television.

This time I asked Ramesh his age. 14. “Are you studying?” No. The man told me that Ramesh had failed his 10th standard exams. But you know all of these things” I said, indicating the computers and other equipment (Xerox shops do passport photos and other multimedia services). Now the man altered what he’d said earlier: Ramesh wants to learn photography, filmmaking, video editing and computer multimedia software. The man was asking me to teach the boy.

Throughout our experiences in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and greater India, Ilana and I have been asked over and over again to share our digital media skills with the people–or the children of the people–that we meet. Today was yet another reminder of the uniqueness of the classes we teach as TMS fellows and the magnitude of students ready and eager to learn.

Nov, 28

tms@themodernstory.com

Daily Updates, Reflections

brainstorm, bubbles, classroom, Railway Girls School, students, Sultan Bazaar, women

Playing with Bubbles

TMS’s new workshop at the Sultan Bazaar school is different from our other classes because we are working with students and teachers on projects that will relate directly to regular class subjects. This model will serve TMS’s goals of better integrating the multimedia tools we teach into the government curriculum and providing skills that can be used even when the fellows are not present to facilitate. Even as I teach the value of multimedia lesson planning, I too am learning its usefulness. For instance, showing the Sultan Bazaar participants the short video (see last post) that I made with their photos and videos was an effective way to review the skills and tips they’d learned in the previous session.

And with our Railway and APRS classes, I’ve seen students equally engaged in sessions where they’re using existing media as thinking tool as when they are doing hands-on work. On Thursday, when we wanted to draw out more of the Railway girls’ thoughts about women, Ilana proposed that we start by showing a series of 10 photos of women and asking the girls to write three words that came to mind when they looked at the images. The activity blossomed from a run-of-the-mill brainstorm to a discussion about the ways that photographers influence their viewers. Having these sorts of conversations with our students is squeezing a drop of soap into their minds: as everyone shares ideas and encouragement, I get to watch that drop balloon outward in a bubble that expands and expands until…pop! The students’ usual hesitations and decorum is thrown to the wind as a new idea or question bursts out and they can’t contain their excitement to speak up. Seeing these mini mind-explosions occurring all over a sea of thirty students is one of the things I enjoy most about being in the classroom. After all, who doesn’t love playing with bubbles?

Sep, 7

tms@themodernstory.com

Daily Updates, Photo Stories, Reflections, The Modern Story Fellowship, TMS Fellow Updates

Happy (belated) Teachers’ Day!

This past Sunday, on the birthday of the famous educator, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India celebrated Teachers’ Day as a way to express appreciation for the nation’s devoted instructors. Since Railway Girls’ High School is closed on Sundays, the teachers and students there organized a beautiful celebration for Monday morning and invited Kara, Asma, Neha, and myself to attend as special guests. We were thrilled to be able to spend more time at the school interacting socially with students and staff, in addition to our great time in the classrooms. Our time at Railway on Monday was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the school’s history, the relationships amongst the teachers, and the community as a whole.

The weeks since I (and Kara) arrived in Hyderabad have been a whirlwind – a constant barrage on the senses and full of more incredible experiences than it feels possible to recount in a simple blog post. Images/sounds/smells/impressions seem to be accumulating in my head and in my computer in a frightfully exponential fashion, and it has taken some time to begin to process them. However, now that we are settled in, Kara and I have an immense amount to share and we are both quite excited to finally begin spilling our stories out onto this ample white (web) page.

For now, I will let the photos I took at Railway speak (mostly) for themselves – you can think of them as chaat, and of the much more detailed posts that will follow shortly, as very large and filling plates of biryani.

Asma and Neha, our two teaching assistants from Technology for the People. They are wonderful women and invaluable assets to the classroom.

A precise and very delicate dance by one of the Railway students.

The little ones! I’ve never seen such enthusiastic audience members – their applause was furious.

Dr. Smt. V. Indira (in orange), the former Headmistress of the school, and an inspiring speaker. Next to her, (in green) is Smt. Janaki, the current Headmistress, a similarly admirable woman.

Watching the performances from behind the curtain.

The 10th year girls all wore their saris to school instead of their uniforms so that they would look more like teachers. On Teachers’ Day at Railway, the teachers get to rest and the 10th year girls teach classes in their stead.

Shailaja, Railway’s very sweet computer teacher.

Navya, a former TMS student. Navya played the part of Headmistress, and she was excellent in her role (just the right amount of formality and authority in her tone to let me know she took her job seriously – at least for the day).

So! chew on all this (like paan,) and check back soon for a slew of new blog posts. Now that the blogging ball is rolling, it will certainly pick up speed.

Feb, 2

tms@themodernstory.com

Reflections, The Modern Story Fellowship, TMS Fellow Updates

A day in the life of a Modern Story Fellow

After posting many student photos, essays, and film pieces and following the impressions of leading Indian experts on The Modern Story’s work in Hyderabad, today afforded a good opportunity to describe to future fellows and the general community what a day in the life of a Modern Story Fellow is like. Morning began with a fiction workshop that I have fallen into as Hyderabad offers a rich literary culture and group of talented editors, screen writers, filmmakers and historians. Critique, responses and networking is done locally and on-line. Then the power goes out and I use the opportunity to un-plug for writing a script piece that a local filmmaker asked me to work on. Headed to class. Students gave ideas for a Public Service Announcement they want to do. Leading ideas include a public service announcement on drunk driving and making food sold on footpaths cleaner and healthier. As Bogota’s mayor once said, the difference between developing and developed countries lies not in their highways but on their footpaths. The students began story boarding today and hopefully soon we will move into animation and production.

This year presents a unique challenge to The Modern Story as new administrators and staff at local schools are asking that we complete more of the videos on campus and less time spent going ‘into the field’ for things like community media reporting or documentary work. The lack of props, vivid backgrounds, and unique atmosphere that we otherwise might have access to is unsettling. But, to get around this issue, we tested the idea of using colored chalk to do stop-frame animation drawings. This technique satisfies local administrative restraints, expands the possibility of student imaginations to take form for TMS projects, and also is much quicker to complete than working only with traditional ‘flip-book’ animation. Hopefully we will be able to demonstrate results soon.

After class the TMS team met with th Byrraju foundation to plan a story telling workshop in northern Andhra Pradesh in late March. Following this meeting, I went to hear a talk and have tea with William Darlymple at Saptaparni, Hyderabad which was an intimate but elegant setting that might prove to be a good location for TMS’ awareness event in late February. Darlymple is famous for his travel writing and published one of the best books in the genre at the young age of 22 titled, In Xanadu. He stopped by for a small reading and fielded questions about his recent work Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. The talk was appropriate for those interested in the work of projects like The Modern Story as it addressed issues and problems related to storytelling, narrative art, and using prose, photography and film to facilitate cross cultural exchange in India. This week’s TEDx Hitec City event also shed a lot of new light on animation workshops for children and story telling in India. I would suggest both their professional work and the content of their talks be ‘required’ reading/viewing for future fellows coming to India.

After the talk with Mr. William Darlymple, I went to the Qutb Shahi tombs to see a contemporary Indian dance performance mixing martial arts and modern movements in India’s seven dance idioms. The performance, held at the last of the Shahi tombs, required the audience to rotate around the magnificent Persian architecture as the dancers evoked spirits of the dead into a display that employed martial art discipline of movement and the agility of world class dancers from Europe and across the Subcontinent. Then afterward I went exploring the burial houses around midnight that still remained open. The night ended with a local friend taking me to Basra Cafe, a great byriani restaurant near the TMS apartment in Abids where we had tasty garlic chicken kebabs and byriani rice. I hope this presents a small picture into the great opportunities the TMS fellowship provides.

Jan, 31

tms@themodernstory.com

Daily Updates, Photo Stories, Project Tracks, Reflections, TMS Fellow Updates

The Modern Story completes the first week of the Social Justice curriculum

Students of The Modern Story program in Hyderabad, India completed their first week of the social justice curriculum created using resources from The Liberation Curriculum Initiative of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. At Nalgonda, a school in a rural area 3 hours south of Hyderabad, students finished the week by practicing story boarding shots and using still photos in sequence to tell a story related to Ghandi and King’s principles. Most students used the Telangana issue to discuss ideas of non-violence.
“Turn the other cheek”

But one group insisted the most important issue related to non-violence in India is the uneasiness between Muslims and Hindus following the 26/11 attacks and relations with Pakistan.

“Let’s stop the violence.”

And what a fitting finish it was to end a week of teaching non-violence by having tea with India’s leading political analyst and veteran of Indian media, Mr. Jyotirmara Sharma. He is American Eloquence dressed in an overbearing Indian. To describe him physically, he resembles the professor from the antedated TV series, Sliders, the big guy. His casual genius would be embarrassing in a smaller man. He remarked at a recent meeting with civil servants in Hyderabad, ‘they told me there would be a lot less poverty if I would simply stop eating so much’ to many chuckles in the audience admiring the man’s display of Pillsbury wit.

Mr. Shamar said “the difference between Gandhi and Martin Luther King is that MLK pushed people to the brink of real violence, without which governments too easily co-opt resistance toward their own ends.’ He continued, ‘Indians assume democracy should be without friction’ and as a result ‘national myths go unchallenged’ even in the face of glaring government blunders and policy failures. One of his main points is that students should develop their own vocabularies when discussing ideas they’re interested in. Mr. Shamar then connected this discussion back to education. Especially education curriculum such as that of The Modern Story’s social justice program around Hyderabad. He said that if students are going to learn about non-violence and change, they must be allowed to develop their own vocabulary that is new, fresh and entirely their own. This was a convenient suggestion because earlier in the day I had a talk with Mr. Prosenjit Ganguly, an inspirational and leading figure in India’s animation sector. He said, ‘Animation is a language. It is a language first voiced by Charlie Chaplin. Animation is slapstick movement.’ Children use it best. And so I began to see a connection between the importance of language in politics and the artistry of animation that provides youth with a language that is all their own. Animation is a language of movement and is so easy to relate to. Animation expands the imagination in an education system that is often about regurgitation. Animation is, at the end of the day, a language spoken so frequently in India from Tollywood to Tom & Jerry that it is accessible enough to express ideas with a necessary and sufficiently fresh vocabulary for social change. Mr. Shamar continued saying new vocabulary, when applied to political action, must be constantly reinvented for social change to be convincing. Otherwise the mythic ‘Tolerant Hindu’ will speak with complacency where change is due.

The Modern Story Fellowship affords countless opportunities in Hyderabad to participate in a national and often global debate about the intersection between education, politics and social change. I am happy to be here. I hope you enjoy the multi-media materials we have produced so far this year and those to come. Despite swine flu, school changes, Telangana riots and an unexpected extended holiday we are carrying on!

Jan, 25

tms@themodernstory.com

Classroom News, Daily Updates, Reflections, Student Writing

dowry deaths, India, Islam, Muslim, relgion, sathi, taliban, women empowermnet

Student Reflections: The Tailiban’s influence and religious conservatism in India’s Muslim communities

The following is an essay by Humera Anjum, 13 years old of IX Standard Class, Railways Girls High School Lallaguda. I was so impressed by her submission for an on-line contest that I wanted to post it here.

In olden days some people use to say that women should not study and they should not work out of their homes. In Muslim religion people use to say women have to be in burkha if they come in front of any people. In villages, people want a boy not a girl because they say boys have to take care of their property. And they love the boy. If a girl is born they will kill the girl because they cannot bear the expenditure of dowry for a girl.

Nowadays governments like the Taliban are pressuring Muslim communities elsewhere to prevent girls from studying past 4th class. Also, these girls are facing severe hardship under the rules, customs and traditions of her community. Today even if we are in the 21st century many people are following some superstitious and unscientific customs as religion becomes more important in politics like child marriage, dowry deaths and sati- where women throw themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands.

As a result, in India many Muslim females are discriminated against before they are born. In our culture a girl is not valued as much as a boy. Among girls the drop-out rates are much higher, particularly among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, girls in rural areas and from poorer families. In rural areas only 9 percent of girls enrolled in class reach class 10.

Also as a result, most of the women are engaged in household or domestic work. This consists of a vital but grossly undervalued type of economic activity. Domestic work does not qualify as productive activity as per the census of India’s definition. ‘Working women’ as per the census definition are those who work outside the households. Women do most of the household’s unpaid work e.g. cooking, collection of fuel, fodder and water, looking after children and animals, gardening, food processing, sewing and weaving etc. Yet they are not regarded as ‘working women.’ More than 90 percent of women workers are engaged in unorganized and informal sectors. When religious governments prevent women from gaining education it is difficult to work in anything but the informal sector.

So social evils more easily oppress women working in informal sectors. For example, these are the women first to face early marriage. Early marriage is a social curse against women. It is done to keep families within certain religious and economic affiliations. With early marriages the troubles begin for the girls as these girls are not mature enough to shoulder the responsibility of families and motherhood. The Marriages Restraint Act lays down the minimum age of marriage for girl at 18.

For another example, the practice of giving and taking dowry has become a menace in India. Dowry means the money, goods and property demanded from a bride’s side as a condition for marriage by the groom’s side. You might have heard in your neighborhood and in your home people cruelly calculating and negotiating dowry amounts. In 1961 the Dowry Prohibition Act was passed. Dowry is a crime against women and society. Men and women should raise their voice against Dowry. The youth should take a vow to go for Dowry-less marriages. Economic independence for women is very important. Whatever little equality and freedom the working class woman enjoys must be due to their economic freedom, education and employment as only this will make women somewhat independent. I believe this to be even more true as governments like the Taliban pressure families to prevent women from gaining education and independence.

So, briefly, even today the girl is not given the respect, the freedom, and the position which a boy is given under the traditions of community. These community traditions are exaggerated by customs of religion in politics.

Dec, 28

tms@themodernstory.com

Classroom News, Daily Updates, Reflections

Mentorship Program at RGHS

Last week, we began wrapping up our first video project on ‘Women and Empowerment’ at Railway Girls High School. Danny and I were eager to include a segment featuring the students’ idea for addressing the barriers that women face. While a few students were engaged with editing the first part of their video on Final Cut Express, the larger group of girls sat in a circle, while we asked questions about what possibilities for action existed at their school. Many students suggested hosting a cultural show for which guests would be required to purchase tickets, whose proceeds would benefit a charity organization targeting women. The idea was good, but it lacked the direct impact within their community (more specifically, school) that we were trying to encourage.

We continued to ask for more ideas, and then one girl suggested giving tuition classes to women living near the school. Because of the difficulty in leaving campus during school hours, we pushed the students to think about how something similar could be implemented within their school gates. After some more prodding, the girls suggested teaching the younger girls in elementary school at the Railway School. This seemed like a good place to start.

After gathering these initial ideas, we introduced the topic of ‘Proposal Writing,’ as a necessary part of beginning any new project. We explained that in writing a proposal, they would have the opportunity to more clearly lay out what they planned to do. We asked what specific parts of their idea may meet resistance from the school administration, and then suggested that they think more carefully about these aspects of their idea before putting them down on paper. One student immediately noted that teachers might be offended that the girls were attempting to replace their position in the classroom. These concerns lead the girls to re-frame their idea as a mentorship, rather than teaching program. We then asked the girls to think about the problems that they might face in mentoring young girls. They answered that it might be difficult to work with many girls, which made them to specifically select 5^th class girls, which would neatly work out to one of them per three younger students.

After some help in organizing their ideas, the girls wrote a letter to their Headmistress, in which they detailed the specifics of the mentorship program that they hoped to create. They asked if they could carry it out during the ‘Guiding’ period on Fridays, when no formal class is held. They shared some example activities that they might introduce to their mentees and explained their reasons for wanting to do the project. The School Headmistress had some valid concerns about the proposed program, namely that it would interfere with already scheduled classes, and did not give immediate approval. We hope though to figure out a way for the girls to implement this mentorship program in some fashion before the end of the term. Although the program that the girls envisioned may not come fully alive, the process of developing the idea for action and refining it was a valuable exercise.

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